Agartala railway station

Agartala আগরতলা
Indian Railway
Location	Badharghat, West Tripura Tripura  India
Coordinates	23°47′34″N 91°16′42″E / 23.79278°N 91.27833°E / 23.79278; 91.27833Coordinates: 23°47′34″N 91°16′42″E / 23.79278°N 91.27833°E / 23.79278; 91.27833
Elevation	25 m (82 ft)
Owned by	Indian Railways
Operated by	Northeast Frontier Railway zone
Line(s)	Agartala-Lumding
Platforms	5
Tracks	3[1]
Connections	Auto Rickshaw, Bus
Construction
Structure type	Standard (on ground station)
Parking	Available
Other information
Status	Functioning
Station code	AGTL
Zone(s)	Northeast Frontier Railway zone
Division(s)	Lumding
History
Opened	2008 (2008)

Agartala railway station is located 5.5 km (2.96 nautical miles) from Agartala in Tripura, India.^[2] The 413 km route connects to Lumding with a broad gauge track. Agartala is the second capital city (after Guwahati, Assam) in Northeast India to be connected to the country's railway network, there are a lot of transportation modes available to reach the city from the station. The lines connect Lumding to Agartala with a broad gauge line and is on its way for a connection towards the extreme end point of the state at Sabroom. There are a total of 14 stations in Tripura with Churaibari being the last one.^[3] The total length of track in this state is 153 km (appx) following which the territory of Assam starts. Agartala is the first state capital in independent India to be connected with a rail network.

History

Trains first reached Tripura in 1964^[4] when the railway was extended to the state's northern business hub, Dharmanagar. Later it was extended further to Kumarghat. The northeastern state capital came on India's railmap with the advent of the railways in the subcontinent in 1853. The foundation stone of the 119 km Kumarghat-Agartala railway project was laid in 1996 by the former Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda and during the laying of rail lines, provisions were kept for swiftly converting it to broad gauge. 40 years time was taken by the Government since then to connect Agartala by rail.

Construction

A corner view of the station

The NFR had spent Rs 900 crore ($190 million) to connect Agartala by rail by making three tunnels through the Longtharai Valley, Baramura and Atharamura Hills in Dhalai and West Tripura districts. The 1,962-metre Longtharai tunnel is the longest railway tunnel in eastern India.^[5] The architecture of the station resembles Ujjayanta Palace.

Fatalities

Construction of railway link started in 1993. To begin with, 36 people railway workers and security forces guarding the tracks died in some 28 rebel attacks during work to link the Northeastern city of Agartala in Tripura state to the rest of the country. A total of 67 people connected with work on the rail link were kidnapped by the rebels. Only 19 were freed after ransom payouts. A raging tribal insurgency in Tripura has ensured that the $186m, 109 km-long (68-mile) link took 15 years to build. But by the mid of 2008 i.e. on 8 June, a new history was created in India, the meter gauge link was completed and Agartala became the second state capital of Northeast India after Assam's capital, Guwahati - to find a place on India's railway map.^[6]

Broad-gauge

Agartala is scheduled to get broad gauge facility by March 2016. Works for conversion in BG a small meter gauge track from Lumding to Silchar in Assam was completed in March 2015^[7] Freight services to Agartala have resumed.

Train Services

One express train till 30 September 2014 used to run between Lumding and Agartala daily. The meter gauge track is converted to broad gauge under Project Unigauge.

The NFR is suspending train services from Lumding to Silchar, Bhairavi (Mizoram), Badarpur and Agartala routes for gauge conversion work. The mega block activity between Lumding and Silchar is in its first phase. In the second phase, the work will be between Badarpur and Agartala, scheduled from October 2015 for another six months.^[1]

While announcing suspension of train services from Lumding to Silchar and Agartala from Sunday(28th Sept 2014), the NFR has decided to run a special pair trains between Karimganj and Agartala from 1 October. The NFR general manager (operation) issued a notification wherein he stated that a special pair of passenger trains will run between Agartala and Karimganj

Link with Bangladesh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit in January 2010 brought a golden moment for both the nation, India and Bangladesh both countries had agreed to set up a second railway link between the two countries through Agartala.^[8] Government of Bangladesh and Government of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU in 21 May 2013 for linking Agartala and Akhaura railway stations to connect Bangladesh Railway with the north eastern states.^[9] The total length of the track will be 15.054 km, of which only 5 km falls in Indian side and the rest is in Bangladesh. The tracks would be laid in Meter gauge on broad gauge format so that it could be converted into broad gauge when necessary.^[10] The project is funded by India and is expected to cost around Rs 271 crore. The External Affairs Ministry had called a meeting of the fourth inter-ministerial steering committee, officials of the Railway Board and other ministries to discuss the pending issues of Agartala-Akhaura railway line project on 29 October 2014.^[11]

References

External links

• Indian Railways site
• Indian railway fan club

Railway stations in Assam
NEFR	Alipurduar Agomani Dhubri Fakiragram Golokganj Lumding Arunachal Junction Badarpur Chaparmukh Diphu Guwahati Junction Kamakhya Junction Lumding Junction Patharkandi Silchar Rangiya Dekargaon Nalbari New Bongaigaon Junction Pathsala Rangiya Junction Tangla Tinsukia Dibrugarh Furkating Junction Lekhapani Makum Mariani Junction New Tinsukia Defunct Mahisasan
Railways in India portal